Mike docked and sat silently in the ship for a few moments before beginning exit protocals. Scotty met him as he came down the side of the Jackdaw and whistled. “Hey! I thought you were going out on a roam with Ganked fellas. What are you doing in the same ship you left in?”

Mike grinned and shrugged. “Damn iffen we didn’t live through it. Well, most of us, anyhow.”

“Come have a drink and tell me about it.” Which lead to them soon being in one of the bars close to the mechanics level of the station, as opposed to the usual pilot levels. The bar looked . . . well used would be a polite term for it but the drinks were served fast and nobody bothered them.

Mike sipped his first drink, eyes widened and he signaled for a second one to be brought as he downed the first. “So this is where the good stuff is stocked. I swear some pilot bars recycle a BIT too much.”

Scotty grinned. “Clones lack properly formed taste buds so why bother?” He held up a hand before Mike threatened to cook another fire meal. “I kid, I kid. So, the fleet?”

“Well there are a few things to be learned, even if the deaths were few. One is when someone says formup is at 1900 and fleet leaves at 2000 be there as close to 1900 as you can be.”

“And wait around an hour?” Scotty frowned.

“They didn’t wait. I was in fleet and shooting stuff by 1945 and the fleet was already on the move. We were about 90 strong and I think the FC was a bit put off by the numbers and strength. There is nothing like seeing a swarm of Jackdaws in motion, I will tell you.”

“We headed into Providence to see what there was to find. I could hear folks on comms as 2000 rolled around asking where the fleet was and they sounded disappointed that showing up at the last moment they were not being waited for. We, well we were hunting.”

“FC was good?”

“FC was excellent, he even provided a video about ship composition, he was one of the Spectre Fleet folks . . . John Drees. He had a good second in command and I kept them both watchlisted. I also listened closely for align, jump or hold commands so I managed not to be left behind nor did I leroy at any point along the line. For me, that was amazing.”

“Wow, no offense, Mike but usually you do screw up.”

“I KNOW. Mike emphasized each work carefully, reaching for the third drink and signalling for another round. “I do not know what went wrong/right/whatever. We has some caracals ghosting along, looking for stragglers, a bomber or two make a run at us and did come in on a solid battle at one gate. He kept his cool and called out targets in order and I just followed and keep the oppositions ewar damped.”

“Spashed water on them?”

“No, you goof, the fit they wanted me in had dual muon damping systems as out defensive ewar. If we saw something nasty or the oppositions ewar we made it do they would need to be docked with us to have any effect on us. It worked. Excellent logi was a bit boost as well, the one time I took any incoming fire I just popped out the word and damn if the damage did not level out and stop. And yes, I remembered to thank the logi afterwards.”

“So how many hours was the roam?”

“Now that was the odd thing. Normally (as the FC said) we wander till folks get bored then dive headfirst into the nearest organized fleet and welp everybody. Total wipe. He took us to HED but nobody was there to play, not even the gate was camped so we called it a day and stood down the fleet with only three or four losses.”

“All in all?”

“All in all I had a good time, watched a good fc and flew with an excellent group of strangers. I call that a win.”

*************************************************************

Lessons

Mostly it was things I learned. I always watch and try to pick up little things. The stay calm really paid off as nobody was left behind and there were very few communication errors.

Man does a hawk/jackdaw fleet have an awesome alpha.

But . . . here I am with a jackdaw that didn’t blow up!

I was all set for the loss so this next draw is for a jackdaw hull. Comments over the next week are an entry.

Attributes and Skills
Does Eve need attributes? It’s been discussed a lot recently. Unlike other MMO’s your characters attributes don’t make a difference in day-to-day gameplay. They simply set how fast you train a skill. Is it time to remove attributes from the game or totally revamp their purpose? Do they add a level of complexity to the game that is not needed? If you really need to use a 3rd party application to get the most from it should it be in the game? Should they be repurposed with each attribute adding a modifier to your ship? Are attributes a relic from the past or are they an important part of Eve – You make your decision and deal with the consequences?

Banter on!

Mike sat, staring morosely out the port at the ships coming and going. The cup of coffee was going cold, undrunk, in front of him. His mind was systems away and he didn’t care. Funerals tended to do that to him. Immortality had the effect of making a pilot think harder about death when it finally came for someone they knew.

He knew it was not that way for all pilots. Some tended to treat their bodies like an ill-fitted suit and were constantly having it tailored or redesigned. Right to the point of having their minds altered to better accept whatever training they happened to have planned. Mike shrugged. He did not subscribe to that version of Min/max mentality and it probably cost him a bit here and there but he was who he was. Not a set of numbers or statistics on a chart but the mind . . . the soul behind the numbers. If there was a soul and if capsuleers still had them. The Amarr seemed a bit divided on that issue. Mike stayed closer to home with Tantas thoughts on the matter. “Ya are who ya be. Be wicked? Be nice? What you do and how you treats folks is who you be. Not just thems as who is important, either.”

The waitress came by and replaced his cup without asking or being asked. Mike thanked her without looking up almost mesmerized by the passage of ships. Like people they came and went and you never knew whether you would see them again. So you made the times you had count and stopped counting the time. No, he would not get his mind adjusted because he was comfortable with who and what he was, slow learning and all. But that did not mean he begrudged others their rights to make those changes. They had their beliefs and he, his. As a true Gallente gentleman he could not see himself forcing his beliefs on another. They could make their minds so mushy Sansha would say ‘ewwww’ and look elsewhere.

He took the cup and nodded to himself. “I wonders iffen Hilen optimized hisself or he just was what he was.” The coffee was the perfect temperature and soon gone.

In case you don’t get it. I don’t use the attributes but that does not mean that I think they should be taken out of the game unless they are causing an issue. Some people do use them and why should we take that toy from them? because they finish a skill faster than us? FINE. You couod remap and minmax too. Just because you don’t want to does not mean others should not have a right to do it.

It is like those protesters who wanted to stop me from eating bacon because they were vegans.

Free watched as the girl studied a recording and then tried to emulate what Boro had done, dragging her hand through the simicrum of the solar system and trailing light. Muddy waves of red spun from one side of her hand and she made a sound of frustration and reset the simulation. “The problem lies with matching his exact technique” She said, “So we’re allowed some time with his materials to try to learn exactly how he does it. According to history records this technique of teaching apprentices is the time honored tradition.”

“Tanta lets you practice but you are never sure if she is watching.” Free replied. “So you are always trying to do your best.”

“Boro doesn’t teach us. We are merely allowed to attend and learn by watching and emulation. ” The hand swept across again, smoother and with fewer distracting eddies.” Ha! ”

” So there are no classes or lessons? ”

” Oh no. To interrupt his creation with mundane teaching would be a true crime against the arts. ”

” And you are expected to learn on your own, no guidance? ”

” We are given ‘opportunities’, nothing more. If we needed hand holding then this is not the place to be.”

Free shrugged, “Each has their own way of doing things, I suppose.” She looked to the tech recording the interview and then pushed a bit more. “So who decides little things meals, where to go, the hiring of ship and staff.”

The girl shrugged “I don’t know, I suppose there’s some manager or something. That’s not our CONCERN, we are here for the art.” As she emphasized the words her hand rail back through the solar system creating new patterns and light but I had not been there before. She stared at it, stunned.

Free took that as an opportunity to go. ” Find this manager she was talking about. Somebody knows what’s going on and that somebody might have her hand on more than just a pulse of the art.” A nod sent the tech on his way leaving her to think about learning. Tanta encouraged innovation in her students but only after she was sure they had a solid foundation. Frees training as an agent had been even more rigid. But Boro just allowed the students to try to teach themselves. Maybe it would result in even greater creativity or it might just lead to frustration. Either way, it was clear that the students had little interaction with the ‘Great Man’ and even less power. They dropped to the bottom of the suspect list.

×***********************************************
Lessons

Been a while since I did a story post. Yes, I am also making a point. No, I am not in the mood to tell you what it is. But I am in the mood to give someone a Hecate. Comment on this post or the last one to be entered.

As some of you know, I am a teacher. Got a certificate and everything (cost me 4 box-tops and postage) This makes me more interested in the thinking behind the New Player Experience since it touches on the borders of overlap of hobby and profession.

One of the old complaints of the former NPE was that there was too much reading. Of the new one . . . that there is not enough instruction. I do NOT believe that there is one solution for players but that we need to come to them in a variety of ways. Video, text, cut-scenes, audio, mentoring, ALL OF IT. The NPE does not need to focus on making it all happen but ease the passageways to the tools that already exist.

In the Rookie help chat some of us spend the time collecting helpful links and answering questions with resources. The MOTD does that as well but it scrolls out of sight so quickly and the new players do not know how to get it back. Allow the learner to go with what works for them and spend the time showing them how to access the tools, how to ask the questions, how to reach out and talk to other people.

It is just good teaching practice, to allow the lesson to adapt to the circumstances of the student and the material. The rest becomes a Dorothy Parker joke about horticulture. (look it up, I am not in the mood to hand everything to you on a platter, today)

But I am asking you for two things. 1) Links you would show to help a newbro learn. Video, audio, infographics, whatever. and (2) Can you suggest a place I can put all the damn things? Would here work? A web page maybe? Preferably free.

Mike stepped down, toweling the podgoo out of his hair and smiled. He laid a hand on the side of the ship and the smile became a grin. The docking foreman approached and looked from the pilot to the ship with a sneer. “A Gallente Dilettante in a Caldari missile boat. Here, with all of Amarrs finest you are like a man showing up in bathing suit to a wedding.”

“Did that once, as well. Man, the brides knew how to fill bikinis.” Mike grinned. “No groom and the ceremony was in the water as the surf came in. Symbolic of something but mainly a blast to see them try to time the vows in between waves.” He laughed at the face of the docking manager at the mention of plural brides. “Oh calm down, just the two ladies in love with each other, not some polygamous arrangement though going to those gets expensive with the size of gifts and extended family attending.”

The sneer widened and then shifted as Mike answered his comm chiming. “What, oh no worries, Glad I could attend. Nah, not a scratch on me, yeah I hit a few, stepped back then charged in, yeah I had saved bookmarks all over the place. Why? Because I am cautious until I am foolish. Yeah, thanks for the to do. You too, Commodore.”

“Y y you were fighting out there? Against the Drifters?”

“Guesting rules. I know you think me a heathen but I have my own rules and I follow them., If I am your guest and you are attacked I will defend the doorway right along side of you. To do otherwise would make me a burden, not a guest. Drifters crashed the party so . . . ” Mike pointed up to the missile bays. “Rapid heavy missile launchers. They do the job nicely.”

“They are slow.” Objected the foreman with an obvious laser bias.

“There is time to target but they have a much wider engagement envelope than, say, lasers. Against Battleships, like what I was shooting they did a fine job of laying down the pain.”

“Missiles are bulky.”

“Well, compared to a stack of crystals damn near any ammo is bulky but I was not there for loot and the ship did not run out while I was firing. So it held enough.” Mike grinned and leaned back. “Not to mention the fact that I can choose my damage to focus on the weakness of the enemy. Lasers do damage in one flavour, I can switch from inferno to scourge to mjolnir to whatever is suitable for the target at hand. Now I figured the drifters to be omnitanked so that did not come up this time.”

“Missiles are broken.”

“Now there, I have to agree with you, in part, Defenders are stupid, autotargetting are hit and miss, mainly miss. I’d love to see the powers that be go back over them and make them something more special or at least more operational.”

The foreman asked. “More special?”

“Yeah, like if defenders started working enemy drones as opposed to fratricide. If autotargets hit the ecm ships first. Just a shade more AI would go a long way. Look, I grew up with drones and missiles. Loved flying the Drake, back in the day and I still do. Each person has their favourite ships and weapons systems and those are mine. I don’t want them to be the best but I would like them to have a bit more flexibilty. But that is just me.”

“No, I think it might be a few more than just one person.”

“Well, changes are coming in oh so many ways. Drifters attacking en masse, me flying in support of Amarr, you carrying ona conversation with a Gallente pilot beyond grunts and insults. Changin times indeed. Makes sense that the missiles will change, too.”

Blog pack has been around for a looooong time and every now and again we take a bite of a subject as a group. The word for this month was missiles.

Torpedo! Torpedo! With the Aegis release we will see missile boats get their own version of the tracking enhancer and the tracking computer. On the forums there have been calls for new ‘missile defence eWar’ to counter these new modules. Is this needed? Are smartbomb ‘firewalls’ enough? Do defender missiles need an overhaul to make them actually worth using? Do we need the missile version of the remote tracking disruptor? Or do we go all Star Trek and have Point-Defence Phaser Banks? Banter on!Torpedo!

I will toss in a list of other bloggers in a day or two when they start to pop up.

The Live Event was a blast and nothing scarier than the hum of multiple doomsdays going off around you.

“Once upon a time, there was a wise man who used to go to the ocean to do his writing. He had a habit of walking on the beach before he began his work.

One day, as he was walking along the shore, he looked down the beach and saw a human figure moving like a dancer. He smiled to himself at the thought of someone who would dance to the day, and so, he walked faster to catch up.

As he got closer, he noticed that the figure was that of a young man, and that what he was doing was not dancing at all. The young man was reaching down to the shore, picking up small objects, and throwing them into the ocean.

He came closer still and called out “Good morning! May I ask what it is that you are doing?”

The young man paused, looked up, and replied “Throwing starfish into the ocean.”

“I must ask, then, why are you throwing starfish into the ocean?” asked the somewhat startled wise man.

To this, the young man replied, “The sun is up and the tide is going out. If I don’t throw them in, they’ll die.”

Upon hearing this, the wise man commented, “But, young man, do you not realize that there are miles and miles of beach and there are starfish all along every mile? You can’t possibly make a difference!”

At this, the young man bent down, picked up yet another starfish, and threw it into the ocean. As it met the water, he said,
“It made a difference for that one.”
― Loren Eiseley

Brave started out as a hope for a bunch of new players that they could make a big splash in the game and have fun doing it. Personally, I think they succeeded, for a time. But the splash fell back into the pool and it turned out that the pool was a turbulent ocean. Things changed, they changed, and the drama happened.

I wasn’t there, I didn’t have an oar on that boat but I watched and chatted with folks who left and who stayed. Some remembered the thrill of the jump into the water, the wanting to make the splash. They never planned to swim with the sharks . . . it was that moment of anticipation and the plunge and encouraging others to do the same. I have stood in a lake and said ‘come on in, the water is fine’ and meant it even though I knew it was cold and harsh and rocky on the bottom.

So here I am, on the shore, handing out inflatable duckies in rookie help chat and pointing towards the deep waters. Throwing starfish. And now I have another pool to throw them towards. Oh it is still gonna be pvp, it is still going to be a cold shock to their system and some will sink to the bottom . . . but here, kid, have a ducky and head that way.

Enthusiasm that was, for a time, diminished in the drama of Brave has flared up again and I like it. I hope they last and flourish and I will send newbies their way when I can because I know these folks. I do mention Brave and Pandemic Horde and Goons, and Eve Uni and others when asked although I never recruit in Rookie Chat as that is forbidden.

Will they make it? Well that takes me back to the starfish story I quoted at the top. Does it matter? If they get one or five or a hundred folks into the game and loving pvp then they won because they changed things for that one/five/hundred starfish. They don’t have to make waves that reach from the north to the south of New Eden. They make their changes one starfish at a time. Maybe one of them will grow to be a famous FC or leader of another Alliance. Maybe not, but they will have got their start because there were folks there to help, to lend a hand, to throw a starfish into the stars.

Mike leaned back and sipped the clear liquid and sighed. He was glad there were no open flames nearby as the liquid could be considered extremely flammable.

“You’ve been busy, eh, mon?” Ev poured some of the liquid from a square jar for himself and settled into the chair next to Mike on the wing of a ship not yet ready to hit space. “All runnin ’bout and doin tings?”

“I knows whatcha mean. I never be drunk iffen I be comparin meself ta me brother Darril. The scale is like a banana, it be appealin but not really good for most measurements.” Ev nodded sagely while Mike tried to figure that one out.

“Banana, riiiight. Well I am doing things but I am more like a swan than a banana. All serene and calm on top and paddling like mad, beneath the surface, ta keep tings movin or at least not going backwards. I keep doin what I is doin and the people on da outside are welcome to replace me, come the next election.”

Ev squinted at him “Still set on not runnin, eh? You gitten tired o the hidden bosses or they gittin tired o you?”

“Well, they’ve invited me back for another visit, so there’s that. I am gonna start askin folks what they wants me ta talk to the powers that be about right soon. Topics CAN be requested as well as meetin various teams and suchlike. I am sure the usual stuff will get an hour or two but it is the special request meetins I always look forward to.”

“Who else, aside from you, got the invite?”

“Not for me to say. Not that it is NDA, though I could argue that it is, more that it is their job to say iffen they is goin or not. And keepin in mind that not goin does not absolutely mean they wasn’t invited but maybe that other circumstances kept them from being able to attend. ”

Let me make a short list for you, Slack (tons of channels) Skype (a few channels) Forums (about 10 groups, variable list of subscribed threadnaughts) Teleconferences, Reddit, Twitter, Evemail and e-mail, Confluence. This is what I follow and for those who have larger organizations, they probably WISH they had it so easy. In additon I suppose some of us might want to (gasp) play the game we are working on so much or even have real lives. A few of us blog, one of us does youtube videos. Nobody is able to see all that happens so I find it difficult to see how any of the general populace can judge us or demand a recall.

I try to stay in touch with players, mainly new ones.I have been lax in staying in touch with the Incursion folks, this term and I plan to chat with them before the summit as well as doing the rounds with other touchstones. There is NO carebear community centre, no fleet or alliance to speak to them. For the most part they don’t want to be organized and herded. It is their playstyle and they are happy to be left alone, but it is them I keep in the back of my mind, then I try to represent.

So judge us by our deeds or lack of therein. Judge us by the good ideas and the bad processes that got through on ‘our watch’. But it is doubtful that the judgement will be accurate. As a few in the reddit thread pointed out . . . minutes are your best measure but even they are incomplete.

Wingspans idea . . .

Ideally, some kind of neutral journalistic party would run such a site. They could create a post about, say, SKIN pricing, then contact each CSM member and get a statement about their position and/or work on that topic, and then publish a big post “here’s what every CSM has said/done about SKINs.” You could take the “no comment” or “no response” fields however you wished to take it.

has some merit as at least you could see where we were as we went along. It still would not be basis for recall but you could get a feel for how the CSM were thinking/reacting. NDA covers what CCP says to us and exact topics of dicsyssion. You can always ask how we personally feel about a subject (for/against/suggested improvements or modifications)

Your assignment? What do you want me to take to Iceland to discuss? What session would you really like to see happen?

“The thing is,” he said, leaning back and staring up at the window and out along the arm of the station. “Thing is that pilots always have both a disconnect from their ships and an unusual attachment to them. It is this dichotomy that makes for the cognitive dissonance many of them seem to suffer.”

Free checked her tech to see that he was recording then asked the next leading question. “Dissonance has been a theme in some of your pieces in the past. Is the disconnect of reality and perception a common theme for your personal life?”

“No. For me experience is all reality. What difference does a memory have if it is of a thing that truly happened or was imagined event? The memory exists, just the same. If a death of a loved one causes tears and a beautiful piece of art does the same are either tears, either emotion, the lesser for the source? Reality needs to be acknowledged but it is just one aspect of our lives. Not the only thing. Art reminds us that there is more and science tries to taker us to that new place that art first conceived.” He looked to her. “The disconnect of my art is to show the border and encourage people to approach it, explore it, cross it freely.”

“So you see yourself as a guide to the border of reality and imagination?”

He scoffed. “Guide sounds so official and programmed. On your left you have the opportunity to see a new way of thinking, Look now to get the ‘complete the task’. No, I sit out beyond the border and invite others to join me. My art is a bridge, not a tour.”

“Do you ever get so frustrated that you want to drag people out to see what you have for them? The people who refuse to ‘look to the left?”

“No, there is an old joke about using horticulture in a sentence. Explaining a joke or pointing out why art moves you lessens the effect and purpose to the point of making it useless. Either you get it, it gets you, or it missed and failed.” He examined her for a moment and asked. “When you dance, who do you dance for?”

She paused, considering and remembering. “It depends on the situation, usually for the audience, I suppose.”

He nodded. “THAT is why Madam sent you on. If it is about them, or you, or anything other than the dance itself you have put the art behind a gauze veil. Lessened the effect and diluted the potency. You had the disconnect and Madam can always spot that. Oh, I would love to work with her, she would not let me get away with a moment of dishonesty and it would be marvelous.”

Free nodded and shifted the topic to safer territories before his questions broke her own story.

Disconnect is a common thing in Eve. Some want a frist person view so they become evn more of their ship and the ship becomes them. Others treat their ships as disposable ammunition. A new player has difficulty with that because he only has one or two ships so they are anything BUT disposable.

We forget that and it changes both their view of the game and our view of their actions.

They still see the beauty of the nebula and discuss how nice the ships look. We scroll waaaayy out and worry about icon changes.

Every now and again I find that a whole bunch of unmatched socks have gathered to critical mass in my laundry. So I set them all out and try to match things or at leats move them out of the sock drawer to where they can be dealt with.

Eve tasks get like that as well. So I lay out my to-do list and see what can be matched up or handled or disposed.

1) 6 month anniversary for Operation Magic School Bus. Write a mailing list post, hand out some draw prizes, lots of draw prizes.. Make some plans for new additions to the project

2) I finally made an alt, mainly to CEO Operation Magic School Bus. Make sure training is up to date and a long range plan is made.

3) Meetings with CCP, one later today, more to come. Do a sweep through the confluence to make sure I am up to date on things

4) I really have to do a Free post and get back into writing.

5) Run an incursion or three AND try to get in on at least one roam to lose a ship or two. Play a bit for myself.

6) I also should do another CSM post. Catch up on what is being said and ask a few questions of you guys.

odd socks

If you are going to be in on the draws? Join the Operation Magic School Bus mailing list soon

If you have a concern that I have addressed repeatedly in the forums all ready? write me a note.

lol, notes. Got a DEMAND from a player that I do a whole munch of things to make hisec safer. Included in his suggestions were ganker pays victim 80% value of the ship and upgrade shield and armor of hulks by 600%. I replied with a one word answer composed of two letters. No. I think that made him angry. His next note was slightly more angry and called me names.

Putting your name out there, running for an election, is not something for the shy and retiring types. It requires and Ego and preferably one well fed by a support group to confirm that you are the right person for the job.

Fine. Now take 14 of that sort of person, all with their own ideas of how things should be done and what is most important and put them together to try to agree on things. Some will, if they share goals or meet on other channels and decide how best to proceed. But what of the outliers? The ones who don’t fit into the agenda or have their own that they wish to advance?

Well then it gets interesting. There are a few options. You can recruit them to your cause. You could convince them that the know nothing and should hush while the adults talk. You can try to close them out of the meetings or steamroller anything that they put forward. You could let them work along side on their own agenda and let the chips fall where they may.

Each term brings new challenges and there is a slightly liberating feeling of knowing that I am not running next season. Mainly I stick to the standard ‘I do what I do’ and nobody else has the right to try to stop me. I will be wrong, at times, and I will be right (hopefully more often than when I am wrong), at times. Gill once asked me what I consider to be the best question to ask of a CSM . . . are you optimistic for the future of Eve?

I am

But it would be a good question to ask the others, as well. There is no NDA on how we feel, how we react, just what we are reacting to.

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